the ears as usual sticking out above his brows.  Much of his time was spent in setting the idle boys of the village to fight; and in carrying lying challenges from one to another.  He himself was seldom without a broken head or a black eye; for in Ireland, he who is known to be fond of quarrelling, as the people say, usually “gets enough an’ lavins of it.”  Larry and Sheelah, thinking it now high time that something should be done with Phelim, thought it necessary to give him some share of education.  Phelim opposed this bitterly as an unjustifiable encroachment upon his personal liberty; but, by bribing him with the first and only suit of clothes he had yet got, they at length succeeded in prevailing on him to go.

The school to which he was sent happened to be kept in what is called an inside Kiln.  This kind of kiln is usually—­but less so now than formerly—­annexed to respectable farmers’ outhouses, to which, in agricultural districts, it forms a very necessary appendage.  It also serves at the same time as a barn, the kiln-pot being sunk in the shape of an inverted cone at one end, but divided from the barn floor by a wall about three feet high.  From this wall beams run across the kiln-pot, over which, in a transverse direction, are laid a number of rafters like the joists of a loft, but not fastened.  These ribs are covered with straw, over which again is spread a winnow-cloth to keep the grain from being lost.  The fire is sunk on a level with the bottom of the kiln-pot, that is, about eight or ten feet below the floor of the barn.  The descent to it is by stairs formed at the side wall.  We have been thus minute in describing it, because, as the reader will presently perceive, the feats of Phelim render it necessary.

On the first day of his entering the school he presented himself with a black eye; and as his character was well known to both master and scholars, the former felt no hesitation in giving him a wholesome lecture upon the subject of his future conduct.  For at least a year before this time, he had gained the nick-name of “Blessed Phelim,” and “Bouncing,” epithets bestowed on him by an ironical allusion to his patron saint, and his own habits.

“So, Blessed Phelim,” said the master, “you are comin’ to school!!!  Well, well!  I only say that miracles will never cease.  Arrah, Phelim, will you tell us candidly—­ah—­I beg your pardon; I mean, will you tell us the best lie you can coin upon the cause of your coming to imbibe moral and literary knowledge?  Silence, boys, till we hear Blessed Phelim’s lie.”

“You must hear it, masther,” said Phelim.  “I’m comin’ to larn to read an’ write.”

“Bravo!  By the bones of Prosodius, I expected a lie, but not such a thumper as that.  And you’re comin’ wid a black eye to prove it!  A black eye, Phelim, is the blackguard’s coat of arms; and to do you justice, you are seldom widout your crest.”